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| FELIX "ZOO" JAMES March 11, 1920-Sept. 18, 2013 |
Basketball flourished during his XU tenure, with the Gold Rush and Gold Nuggets recording six 20-victory seasons apiece and combining for six appearances at the NAIA Division I National Championships. XU's women won first-round games at nationals four consecutive seasons, and the Nuggets extended that streak a year after James' retirement.
James also administered in 1994-95 the return of men's tennis and cross country to intercollegiate status and the introduction of women's tennis and cross country. He hired Dannton Jackson, XU's current head coach of men's basketball and interim athletics director, as a women's basketball assistant coach and later gave him the cross country duties. Alma Henderson, the department's longtime administrative assistant II, also worked for James.
James was a 1941 graduate of Xavier who worked his way through XU as a manager on the men's track and field team. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps after graduation and served as a medic in Italy during World War II with the Tuskegee 332nd Fighter Group.
He was inducted into the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1989 after winning two state championships, three city championships and five district championships in 15 years as head football coach at L.B. Landry High School on the New Orleans West Bank. He also taught at Landry and coached track and basketball.
Felix "Zoo" James from Cyril Neville, Jr. on Vimeo.
video: http://vimeo.com/12778367
Prior to Landry, James worked six years at Gaudet School before it closed in 1951. After his Landry tenure, James worked for the Orleans Parish Public Schools personnel department as coordinator for certification and, ultimately, as its director.
James was born in Gerard, Ga., on March 11, 1920, and moved to New Orleans with his family at age 5. He was nicknamed Zoo because of his childhood love of animal cookies. He was a 1937 graduate of McDonogh 35 High School, and he received a master's degree from Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) after the war. James relocated to Memphis, Tenn., in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina.
Survivors include, his wife, Bonita, and son, Kenneth, both of Memphis; a granddaughter, Monique Moody of Jacksonville, Fla.; three great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the Landry-Walker Auditorium at L.B. Landry High School, 1200 L.B. Landry Ave., followed by a tribute service from 8-9 p.m. The funeral will start at 10 a.m. Friday at Saint Luke's Episcopal Church, 1222 N. Dorgenois St. in New Orleans. Visitation there will be from 8-9:45 a.m. Burial will be at 2 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Cemetery on River Road in Edgard, La. Majestic Mortuary Service is in charge of arrangements.
By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director
XULAATHLETICS
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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